More than a hundred Ukrainians were detained and then disappeared in Kherson, a city in southern Ukraine liberated on November 11, during the Russian occupation, in what appears to be a planned campaign. In any case, this is what a study by the American University Yale published on Friday suggests. Dozens of people were electrocuted or beaten with metal pipes, denounced kyiv.
Witnesses also told Le Monde that the Kherson prison served as a “Russian torture center”. One of the survivors, Anatoly Stotsky, recounted having been the victim of electrification during an interrogation.
The Conflict Observatory, a research group from the university’s public health department whose work is supported by the US State Department, has identified 226 extrajudicial detentions and enforced disappearances in Kherson in eight months of Russian occupation.
Half of those imprisoned “do not appear to have been released”, according to the report cited by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. According to him, “Russia must end the detentions and disappearances, withdraw its forces from Ukraine and end a war that it cannot win and will not win, no matter how brutal its tactics” in view of of the study.
Their fate has become little clearer since the withdrawal of Russian forces from Kherson on November 11. A quarter of the 226 people concerned were allegedly tortured and four died in custody or shortly thereafter. The majority of these acts were perpetrated by the Russian military and Russian security services (FSB).
The detained and missing were mainly men of military age, including civil servants, civil society figures, teachers, police officers and journalists, according to this source.
A “premeditated” campaign
“These results lend credence to a series of alarming allegations about the treatment of detainees, including deaths in detention, the widespread use of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, the looting of detainees and sexual violence. and gendered,” says the study.
The researchers also explain that the profile of the prisoners indicates a “premeditated” campaign. According to some sources consulted for this study, the Russians arrived with lists of names and license plate numbers, targeting people who might resist their occupation.
Crimean Tartars were particularly targeted, with many being accused by the Russians of belonging to “terrorist” Tartar groups, according to the report. “This study shows that Russian forces must be held accountable for the crimes they are accused of committing in Kherson,” the scholars say.